


Bonded

by thrxnduils



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-17 17:35:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16100477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thrxnduils/pseuds/thrxnduils
Summary: In late 1950s London, well on his way to becoming the most dangerous and feared wizard in history, Tom Riddle meets Nagini Arsakes, a woman harbouring a magical secret behind an erotically decadent exterior. Soulless and cold as he is, he is fascinated by her curse, not knowing that her mystery and danger does not render her an easy target. (Rated M for future scenes.)





	1. Chapter 1

The year was 1958. England still bore scars from the toll that World War II had taken, but it was a city determined to be strong.

It was a chilly September evening, the end of a bleak day. A man walked with a brisk step through the streets of London. He was well dressed – a crisp black shirt tucked into a pair of grey dress pants, held together with dark suspenders. Thrown over that to combat the chill in the air was a dark grey two-button blazer, and thrown over that was a fashionable (albeit heavy) trench coat, the upturned collar of which now protected his face from the biting wind. He changed direction multiple times, before making his way into a grim alleyway, that looked as though it had never been traversed before. 

Heading down the dirty alley, the man walked straight toward a door – a door where none should have ever been. It was a dark green door – almost blending in with the dirty walls surrounding it. He knocked on the door, three sharp knocks. There was a small commotion as someone pulled open a slit that was eye level with the man. He reached into the pocket of his coat, and calmly passed five large gold coins through the slit. 

The door swung open.

The man entered the doorway, which swung shut and locked quickly behind him. Smoothing back his hair, he walked with a lazy step to the end of the corridor, where there was suddenly an uproar of raucous voices, and he was bathed in light.

The man was undeniably attractive. He had dark brown hair that was neatly parted at the side and combed – seemingly withstanding every bit of the bitter breeze he had faced to arrive at his destination. His face was smooth and charming – he had a neat, straight nose, high cheekbones, and even lips. There was no stubble on his face, no four-o-clock shadow. His eyes were deep as they were brown, but they denoted something strange, something different. His face was charming, but his eyes seemed like windows to something dangerous, something cold. The set of his mouth mirrored it, when he smiled.

He threw off his coat and held it in his arms as he approached the raucous voices. The sight that met him was scandalous indeed. 

A woman stood in a cage, surrounded by approximately fifty men, all clamouring at her. She was brown skinned, with thick black hair that cascaded down her shoulders, almost touching her waist. Her eyes were a shocking green, narrowed against the hooting men at all sides. There was a red dot at the middle of her forehead, perfectly symmetrical between two dark, clean cut eyebrows. She wore a burgundy dress that looked clean, if not new. It dipped almost obscenely down her chest, and skirted lightly above her knees, slit on the side. 

The man knew why all these lesser men clamoured and shouted at her, begging for a chance to touch her, to take her clothes off. They thought she was exotic, a delicious change from what they knew. And as she moved lithely between the bars in a way a human should never be able to move, he couldn’t fault them. But a man like him knew she wasn’t exotic. She was intensely beautiful – almost too beautiful – beauty that was spellbinding, hypnotizing, and painfully erotic – but she wasn’t exotic.  
His brown eyes met her green ones through a clearing of the desperate men. He was standing afar, but the switch in her gaze contented him that she knew he was different. At the end of her show, he stayed long after the last craving customer threw quid after quid into the cage, keen for even a touch. He watched as she languidly batted her eyelashes at every one of the men, but as desperate as they all were, she filled them with a fear and intimidation that kept them at bay.

A large man – possibly the one who had taken his payment at the door – approached him. 

‘Show’s over,’ he grunted. ‘Get out.’

But even so, his gruff words were laced with calculation and measured caution. He was large and strapping, but even he could sense the aura of danger that surrounded this strange, brown eyed man. 

‘Let him be, Robert,’ came a female voice. It was the woman from the cage. She approached them now in the dim light of the room, free, unrestrained. Her voice was almost as sultry as she was, a crooning, soft voice, laced with fearlessness and a drop of haunting. 

The large man grumbled his assent, and set about clearing up the mess the men had made. 

The woman beckoned the man to a sitting area with two chairs. They both took a seat, and she reached out, holding out her hand for the man to shake. Every inch of her was elegant – down to her fingers, dangled before him in a sensual, delicate fashion. 

He took it in his, his eyes never leaving hers. The brown bore into the green, both knowing that they were something more than the eye could see. Instead of shaking her hand, he brought it to his mouth and touched it gently to his lips, his eyes never leaving hers. 

‘Nagini,’ she said, by way of introduction. 

‘Tom Riddle,’ the man replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Nagini nodded her head at him. She was polite, and he knew she was being careful. Her face betrayed no knowledge or recognition as she gazed into his eyes, trying desperately to place him. 

 

Tom Riddle leaned back luxuriously, crossing his legs, and placing his hands behind his head.

 

‘So tell me, Nagini,’ he began – his voice soft and laced with foreboding charm, ‘how long have you known that you were a Maledictus?’

 

A hiss almost escaped her mouth, formed perfectly between her lips. Her eyes narrowed, as she raised a hand to catch the large brute’s attention.

 

‘Robert, you may leave us.’

 

Robert trudged back into the room, holding a wooden chair in his arms. He had been restacking them, clearing the mess that had previously been made in the room. He shot a distrustful glance at Riddle.

 

Nagini uttered a soft laugh, pacifying him. ‘I’m alright. I promise. I will see you tomorrow night.’

 

Riddle heard Robert’s gruff, hesitant ‘FINE.’ He looked as the large man placed the chair down, and left them. They listened to his footsteps echo down the hallway - heard a click as the lights around them dipped into a soft dim yellow, and then the door swung shut.

 

They were alone.

 

Nagini had composed herself fully again. The hiss might have been a dream, had he not been the most perceptive man of his time.

 

‘What on earth,’ she crooned, her voice torturously provocative, ‘is a Maledictus?’

 

She pronounced the word slowly, letting it linger syllable by syllable on her tongue, each sound dripping in honey. MAL. ED. DIC. TUS.

 

Riddle kept his eyes on her. He was amused. She was no toy. His mouth curved upward into a shadow of a grin. Even when Tom Riddle smiled, one could tell that he was never truly happy. It was not a mirthful smile. It was tinged with vice, but he could tell that she saw what others could not. And so, she knew this.

 

‘A creature,’ he replied. His voice was low. ‘An accursed woman. Born to an accursed mother. Exceedingly rare..’

 

‘Accursed,’ Nagini repeated, her voice equally low. ‘All humans are accursed..’

 

‘You look at me and I know you see that I am not a human,’ Riddle replied. The dim light cast upon his features evoked an otherworldy, ethereal sort of beauty, that felt almost wasted on his face.

 

‘Oh but if you are not human, what could you be?’

 

She was playing with him. He was not used to this. He had killed before, he had turned on people who trusted him deeply, and thought nothing of it. He thought of Hepzibah Smith, poisoned at his hands. He had watched her gagging and suffocating as she died, a woman who loved him dearly, who treated him like her own son. He had taken what he needed from her, and he was gone, not even taking with him a memory of the woman other than what he had done to her, and how much power he had felt.

 

Who was this woman to play with him?

 

She remained steadfast, her eyes locked with his. Her blinks came slowly, her thick black lashes sweeping down on her face – and with each sweep, he expected her to lower her gaze, to turn away. But each time, they rose back up, and she gazed at him with renewed vigour, renewed defiance. She spoke again.

 

‘Tell me more about the Maledictus, you were going so well..’

 

There was almost mockery in her voice, here. Tom Riddle’s hands curled slowly into fists. He flexed his fingers, stopping himself from grabbing a simple weapon in his coat pocket that could finish her right there.

 

‘A Maledictus is a cursed woman, a cursed creature. Born to one cursed before her, one destined to live out the rest of her life as an animal when she can no longer take its shape at her own will and pleasure. You are a Maledictus. You take the form of a snake.’

 

‘So, similar to an Animagus then,’ she offered, taking him completely by surprise. A minute ago, she was a witless wonder, and now, with that simple sentence, she had transformed into a woman of awareness and knowledge.

 

‘Not quite, Animagi aren’t forced to change for good.. I see you are well enough educated, then.’

 

She reached into a pocket of her dress, and drew something out, pointing it at him.

 

A wand.

 

‘Twelve inches, elmswood, dragon heartstring,’ she whispered. ‘And educated enough to protect me and mine.’

 

Tom Riddle patted his jacket pocket conspicuously.

 

‘Thirteen and a half inches, yew-wood, phoenix feather,’ he countered. ‘But I don’t have to go into the details of my schooling for you.’

 

Nagini rose slowly to her feet. Every movement she made was fluid and sensual, even snakelike. She had so become like her curse, so like a snake, he could see the ease of the curves at her hips, and the base of her spine, as she approached him. He rose to his feet too, meeting her halfway. He was much taller than her – almost a foot – but he looked down into her eyes, and felt almost matched. Almost.

 

‘Why do you do this?’ he asked, even though he knew the answer. ‘You are a woman of magic and pure blood. Why do you sit here in this cage and use your power to make a show for these filthy rats who can’t even imagine the power we have?’

 

‘Is it a caged woman you see, when you look at me?’

 

She came closer to him, her chest almost against his. ‘Look carefully. Is that what you see?’

 

He didn’t reply, evenly measuring his breathing. He had long since felt emotion, and none of her charms could phase him as far as that went. But he was a man, young and strong, and he could see what lured lesser men in, as he drank in the sight of her, glowing and goddess-like. She was keeping his eye for longer than anyone he had ever known.

 

Longer even, than his old transfiguration teacher, that old fool, the only person who he thought had ever saw him for what he was - Albus Dumbledore.

 

‘I see power,’ he murmured at her. ‘Raw power. I know you don’t make a show for them. You do it because it gives you that power – you know you are stronger, you know you are different. They are craven, thirsty, weak. They see it in you, but they do not know what they see. They just know they want more.’

 

She didn’t reply.

 

‘How many men have you killed?’ he asked, that amused, wicked smile playing at his lips. ‘Will you tell me how you killed them?’

 

‘I don’t see how that is any of your concern,’ she replied hotly, the sensuality in her voice taut with the snap.

 

‘I see it in your eyes. The snake inside you, it’s no docile animal. It is no pet, no sweet-tempered beast. It wants to eat, to hunt, to strike. It wants to kill.’

 

‘And what do you want?’ she breathed, and he felt the point of her wand press against his heart.

 

‘I want you to join me, Nagini,’ he replied. It was as casual a demand as if he’d asked for midday coffee.

 

I want you to join me.

 

The words echoed in her head.

 

I want you to join me.

 

Join me.

 

She listened hard, and closed her eyes. And she knew the truth.

 

_I want you to kill for me, Nagini._

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

They had left the confines of the skulking room in the alleyway, and they were now walking side by side through the London streets. The moon rose high in the sky, casting an eerie glow on the city below. They were not completely alone in the street, but it felt private enough.

 

‘Walk with me,’ she had suggested.

 

And so, he had obliged.

 

Now they walked together, an uncanny pairing for the time. A startlingly handsome man with a countenance as cold as the breeze, accompanied by a mysterious, obscure woman. Nagini had thrown a scarf around her neck and a coat around her shoulders, leaving only the bridge of her nose and her eyes exposed. But even so, her olive skin, the stray lock of thick black hair that fell between her amorous eyes, her lissome gait – she was no usual Englishwoman.

 

Without warning, she reached her arm up and slinked it through his. His first instinct was to sharply recoil, but as he snapped his head to the side to meet her eyes, he could see that she was playing with him again. He let a sharp, irritated breath out with a whistle, and returned his eyes to the street in front of him.

 

Tom Riddle hated being touched. He hated the concept of intimacy, considering himself far too elite and superior to share any part of him with anyone else. Nobody had ever been remotely worth it – humans were a craven, pitiful lot. During his years at Hogwarts, he could feel the eyes on him as he grew older and more and more handsome, but he took pleasure in the fact that nobody ever dared make an attempt towards him. Nagini’s fingers pressing gently on his forearm was as alien a sensation as something could be. It startled him, truth be told.

 

Intimacy. A fool’s weakness.

 

‘So tell me,’ she began, drawing him out of his thoughts. ‘Have you heard of the Kensington Disappearances?’

 

He nodded, not at her, but at the road ahead of him. He didn’t want to meet her eyes again. Sometimes it felt like she was holding him hostage in them. ‘Yes.’

 

Tom Riddle spit on the non-magic world, but his hatred for it only fueled his intense desire to remain abreast of all of their successes and progresses. Their medicine, their weapons, their leaders – these foolish blooded meagerest of men who somehow had the vast majority of the world convinced that they held the keys to true power. These Kensington Disappearances had been extensively reported by British tabloids and newspapers, with police and detective investigations coming up empty-handed each time. It always included the same description – a man between the ages of twenty-one and fifty, on the 15thnight of every other month – starting a year and a half ago, snatched as if from the dimension itself. No trace, no hope, no contact to follow, ever again. At times, Riddle himself felt a stab of enjoyment when he read it, a glee at a purge of any kind. In fact, the thought had crossed his mind multiple times that the perpetrator was far too intelligent to be of non-magic blood.

 

Maybe even a witch or wizard who similarly enjoyed the concept of a non-magic purge just the same?

 

‘I admit myself surprised, although my reputation doth precede me,’ she chuckled darkly.

 

He smiled, that wicked, vice-filled smile. ‘I knew it was no Muggle,’ he grinned. ‘Was it you, Nagini, or was it your Maledictus?’

 

‘Sometimes I feel like she needs to breathe, to eat,’ Nagini replied. ‘The urge gets so strong, sometimes. And she is so.. powerful. A robust, beautiful viper. And when I see through her eyes.. I can’t help it. God.. I _enjoy_ it.’

 

Riddle stopped in the street, closing his eyes. He reveled in this, this talk of death and carnage at the hands of magic folk. ‘Tell me more.’

 

His eyes were still closed, but he felt her step around him, until he knew she was in front of him. She released his forearm and he enjoyed the momentary reprieve, and she began to talk. He knew she was standing as close to eye level as she could with him but she still had to look up, staring at his closed eyes. Her voice was lecherous, almost obscenely bawdy.

 

‘Sometimes I don’t remember.. and sometimes I do. _She_ is a viper, silent, deadly, swift. Some nights I feel my blood beginning to boil and bubble, and the next thing I know, my belly is scraping the floor.. and I feel so free, and it feels so good. You called it a curse, Tom Riddle, but it is the greatest freedom I have ever known..’

 

She trailed a finger against his coat, up to his collar, reaching in until she could place two perfect fingers on his pulse.

 

‘Blood.. red, gushing, warm, life.. it draws me to them. And I know that she must eat, but I wanted to be careful. Only one, every other month, I told myself. But she is never sated.. there are more, you know. Men that no one will miss. But the young, strong ones.. they taste the best. I don’t do it arbitrarily, I don’t harm indiscriminately. London is not a clean town of good men, you may know.. it is a city of liars, of corruption, of murderers, of rapists. The war has left a stain, and I think I’m helping.. I choose them, I choose wisely. I follow them, keep a tab on their movements. And on the right night.. they never see me coming. Now you know.. no police, no Scotland Yard.. I am untouchable. So I delight in my little.. cage sessions. They see me for what I am, but they don’t know what they see. And I have to live.. and they have money. A fair bargain on all sides, don’t you think?’

 

‘Tell me more,’ Riddle continued, his eyes still closed. ‘Tell me about the kills.’

 

Her voice was painfully decadent now. ‘It’s just that last flash in their eyes. Like they knew this was coming. Like they knew they had to pay for their sins one day, that they know this, this is the Kensington Disappearance. I go for the jugular, scrappy compared to what we are capable of.. a clean, quick kill.. but she enjoys a feast.. every last bit. The screaming never comes, they can’t scream after the first bite. They just sit there, draining, knowing that the end has come. The light goes out of their eyes so slowly.. it’s almost like they stay alive just long enough to accept that death has come. Then I am me again, and I _Scourgify_ the blood, and we are on our way, aren’t we?’

 

Tom Riddle finally opened his eyes, and when they met her brilliant ones, he saw her truth in them.

 

‘Show me what you can do,’ he murmured. ‘I want to see.’

 

Nagini rolled her eyes. ‘At a command? I think not.’

 

He raised his hand and grasped her face in it, thumb on one cheek, with the rest of his fingers on the other. It was not a gentle grasp, but the softness of her skin stretched across a sharp jaw, and the obscurity of the nature of the touch startled him. Yet, he did not stop. She jilted her head backwards, out of his hands.

 

‘I do nothing on your command,’ she said firmly. ‘I do nothing on anyone’s command. But _she_ is hungry, and you are in luck.’

 

His eyes glowered with excitement as she turned her head down the street, scouring it for an adequate victim. Her gaze settled on a middle aged man a few yards down, drinking something from a hip flask. He was dressed in all black, with a low-lidded hat hiding most of his face.

 

Nagini looked at Riddle, a sharp, deep look that he felt reached to his very bones. Her pupils began getting narrower and narrower, until they were almost slits. Still every ounce as beautiful – if perhaps not rendered even more terribly beautiful by her new fearsome feature, she turned back to look at the man.

 

‘Kensington Disappearance, number ten,’ she murmured lasciviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI GUYS! I hope you all are enjoying so far! Please leave a kudo or a comment if you've enjoyed what you've been reading so far. I'm excited to continue writing and get this story out of my head and onto these (figurative) pages! Haha.


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